The
Russian Defense Ministry and Pella Shipyard have signed a contract for
over 10 Project 03160 Raptor-class patrol boats before 2018, according
to the Gazeta.ru online news agency. Under the contract, the fast boats
are to be delivered before year-end 2018. In addition, the manufacturer
will build Project 16609 special harbor tugboats for the Russian Navy. |
The
Project 03160 Raptor-class fast patrol boats are designed to patrol
littoral zones. The Pella Shipyard executed the previous Raptor order
on schedule in 2015. According to Deputy Defense Minister Yuri Borisov,
the St. Petersburg-based shipyard was to supply the Navy with four Project
03160 boats in 2014 and four more in 2015 under the 2014 contract.
According to the military, the Raptors delivered by Pella were assigned
to the Novorossiisk Naval Base of the Black Sea Fleet and the Baltic
Fleet’s Leningrad Naval Base.
Apparently, one of the boats is used by ranking Defense Ministry officials:
she is moored by the quay of the National Defense Control Center at
Frunze Embankment in Moscow.
The Navy needs boats like this for patrolling, amphibious landing, and
search and rescue (SAR) operations. Measuring around 17 m long and 4
m abeam, the Raptor has the round-the-clock operating capability at
a distance of 100 nm from her home base. Her maximum speed equals 48
knots (about 90 km/h). She is equipped with a 2,000-hp twin-waterjet
power plant.
The boat can intercept and apprehend small seagoing vessels, conduct
SAR and defend her home station against attacks. The naval Raptors may
be configured to carry a boarding or counterterrorist team, divers or
rescuers depending on their maritime applications.
The military has noted previously that the Raptor’s features include
her ability to travel at any relative azimuth in Sea State 5 at a speed
of 20 knots and with a wave height of 4.5 m or at 28 knots with a wave
height of 2.5 m.
The boat is crewed by two personnel seated at the bow in an armored
deckhouse equipped with bulletproof portholes 39 mm thick. She carries
up to 20 personnel in addition to her crew. Troops can embark and disembark
using the upper and lower hatches in the troop compartment or the passage
to the bow ramp via the deckhouse. Landing can be via the bow ramp.
In case a compartment is flooded, it is sealed off by a water/gas-tight
door preventing water from getting into other compartments and sinking
the boat.
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The
Project 03160 fast boat carries the 14.5-mm Uprava-KORD remote-controlled
fighting module equipped with a gyro-stabilized electro-optical module
stabilizing the machinegun at rather rough sea.
In addition, the boat has two pintle-mounted 7.62-mm Pecheneg machineguns
for engaging the enemy, means of transport and aerial threats. The Pecheneg
withstands the firing of 25,000-30,000 rounds at an intensive rate.
Russian Raptors are said to have been deployed to Syria’s coast
recently.
According to Andrei Frolov, editor-in-chief, Arms Export Magazine/expert,
Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies (CAST), the boats
may be used for patrolling water areas and littorals.
"The boats are necessary for anticommando defense, but not so much
to defend our naval task force, as civilian vessels coming to Syria,"
he said, commenting on media reports of the Russian Black Sea Fleet’s
KIL-158 vessel having brought a couple of boats under camouflage nets
to Syria via the Bosphorus on May 8, 2016.
CAST analysts wrote that "judging by the characteristic shape,
two Russian-made Project 03160 special fast boats were being carried
to Syria." The Defense Ministry has not commented on media reports
about the deployment of Raptors to the Mediterranean yet, according
to the Gazeta.ru news portal.
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Project 03160 Raptor of the Russian Navy Black Sea Fleet
